Jason Lewis
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- Oct 6, 2009
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i went pheasant hunting yesterday with my "new" percussion 13ga SxS that i purchased from wirehairman. the gun worked beautifully with an 1 1/8oz bismuth #4's and 60grn swiss 2F.
i was by myself in a whole compartment of the controlled pheasant hunt area i was hunting. since i don't have a dog, i do alot of walking and occasionally get a bird or two. this morning there was about 4" of snow on the ground so the birds stick out agains the white.
i began with my usuall strategy of working the narrow strips of milo that are left in the fields. this particular case, the milo was 8 rows wide and right next to a small wooded valley, which the birds tend to run for when spooked. this strip is about 400yrds long. i started walking on the inside rows and about 60yrds infront of me i can see a hen running away from me and starting to duck into the woods. she stopped long enough for me to close the distance and then stepped out offering a clear shot at about 30yrds. i brought the old SxS to bear and BLAM! the right barrel roars and i see a hen laying there, dead as a door nail. once i finally calm down from my excitement, i uncapped the unfired left barrel, placed the ramrod down the left barrel and reloaded the right barrel.
already thrilled with my day, i decided to continue up the strip and see what else may or may not be in there. it was overcast and around 14 degrees with a light wind, really a nice day. there are little blackbirds flying everywhere, and i can hear a few scattered shots in the distance from other hunters, but i'm here all by myself with a muzzleloading shotgun from the 19th century, and have a bird in the bag.
as i continued up the strip, i flushed a rooster about 60yrds away and he of course flew straight for the tree line and never offered a shot. however, i was quickly nearing the end of the milo strip. i cocked both hammers and got ready too shoot just incase i flushed a bird. 40yrds.. nothing, 30yrds, still nothing... 20yrds, nothing.. 10yrds, nothing... 5 yrds, a hen flushes about 10ft on the left and starts heading back down the milo strip. i swung and fired the right barrel.. miss, she's still gliding down, left barrel.. got her! she's hit! i found her about 70yrds away inbetween the milo rows.
this all happened in about 30min, as i was walking on cloud nine back to the truck i ran into a couple of other hunters, and after chatting for a minute they offered to carry one of my birds that way i could go hunting with them. i said" well, i appriciate it, but i don't want to shoot your birds" which they still wanted me to go just to have another gun along for back up and help working fields and such. so i said "okay, if you guys don't mind." we flushed two more bird that morning, both roosters. they missed both of them and i got them both with one shot. at this point i both wanted to excuse myself and had too because of bag limits. so we parted ways and i came home. it was a very good day, and since i even got to hunt longer thanks to the other hunters who were kind enough to let me hunt with them for a little while.
the downside to this story, is that as i was cleaning the second bird i realized i forgot to take pictures :redface:
i was by myself in a whole compartment of the controlled pheasant hunt area i was hunting. since i don't have a dog, i do alot of walking and occasionally get a bird or two. this morning there was about 4" of snow on the ground so the birds stick out agains the white.
i began with my usuall strategy of working the narrow strips of milo that are left in the fields. this particular case, the milo was 8 rows wide and right next to a small wooded valley, which the birds tend to run for when spooked. this strip is about 400yrds long. i started walking on the inside rows and about 60yrds infront of me i can see a hen running away from me and starting to duck into the woods. she stopped long enough for me to close the distance and then stepped out offering a clear shot at about 30yrds. i brought the old SxS to bear and BLAM! the right barrel roars and i see a hen laying there, dead as a door nail. once i finally calm down from my excitement, i uncapped the unfired left barrel, placed the ramrod down the left barrel and reloaded the right barrel.
already thrilled with my day, i decided to continue up the strip and see what else may or may not be in there. it was overcast and around 14 degrees with a light wind, really a nice day. there are little blackbirds flying everywhere, and i can hear a few scattered shots in the distance from other hunters, but i'm here all by myself with a muzzleloading shotgun from the 19th century, and have a bird in the bag.
as i continued up the strip, i flushed a rooster about 60yrds away and he of course flew straight for the tree line and never offered a shot. however, i was quickly nearing the end of the milo strip. i cocked both hammers and got ready too shoot just incase i flushed a bird. 40yrds.. nothing, 30yrds, still nothing... 20yrds, nothing.. 10yrds, nothing... 5 yrds, a hen flushes about 10ft on the left and starts heading back down the milo strip. i swung and fired the right barrel.. miss, she's still gliding down, left barrel.. got her! she's hit! i found her about 70yrds away inbetween the milo rows.
this all happened in about 30min, as i was walking on cloud nine back to the truck i ran into a couple of other hunters, and after chatting for a minute they offered to carry one of my birds that way i could go hunting with them. i said" well, i appriciate it, but i don't want to shoot your birds" which they still wanted me to go just to have another gun along for back up and help working fields and such. so i said "okay, if you guys don't mind." we flushed two more bird that morning, both roosters. they missed both of them and i got them both with one shot. at this point i both wanted to excuse myself and had too because of bag limits. so we parted ways and i came home. it was a very good day, and since i even got to hunt longer thanks to the other hunters who were kind enough to let me hunt with them for a little while.
the downside to this story, is that as i was cleaning the second bird i realized i forgot to take pictures :redface:
